Crossed Paths: The Ultimate Crossover Saga
by ShadowE
Summary: The story continues in the brand new epic Crossover saga, Crossed Paths. This time we revisit the apparent villain of the piece, as he's joined by a certain "Eggman" to aid in his plans...
1. Generational Corruption

Crossed Paths: Chapter 0

Generational Corruption

_Author's Note - Hi there, everyone... This is the beginning of my brand new, and hopefully unique, mass crossover saga, Crossed Paths. There will be characters from all sorts of media here, from GLaDOS of Portal, to Spider-Man, to Sonic the Hedgehog, to even Vegeta of Dragonball Z. And for a bit of realism... Norman Jayden of Heavy Rain. But there are also a lot more characters, all being brought in for the purpose of initiating the plan of a dark-hearted apprentice, to defeat his master._

_Let the games begin._

-

The night above the luminant city. The steady downfall of rain pitter-pattered against the buildings and cars like bullets on tin. It was raining everywhere.  
>A small group of people huddled together amongst the all-but-deserted streets. They gulped in the chill of the night air. The bitter wind brushed against them, whisping at their clothes.<br>"Keep on the look out." stated the man in front. He was wearing what seemed to be a damaged armoured suit, helmet and cape, with a bat insignia on his chest. Blood was trickling down his mouth. "We have to keep moving. If he attacks us again..."  
>"If he attacks again, there won't BE anything to keep moving." observed the man with the blade in the battered, dirtied crimson suit and loosened cravat. "As a 'hero' shouldn't you be showing us how you continuously avoid death, Mr. Wayne?"<br>"The best thing we would be able to do to keep ourselves alive is to... Stick to the shadows as it were, Mr. Edgeworth." replied Bruce Wayne, AKA the Batman. "But, of course, when you're up against an enemy who can see through buildings, it loses its protection purpose."  
>"Guys, please, not now. Not here." groaned an exhausted kid in blue clothing. The most striking thing about him would be his hair. It was black, in spikes, with a purple outline, with several blond strands straggling along his face. He seemed to be wearing a golden pyramid around his neck, along with a metallic bladed device on his arm. To the unaware eye, it would look like it was just for a card game of some sort. "He wants us to fight. It's how he managed to get the others... There were 7 of us before now."<p>

There was a long pause between all of them. A silence that felt like it lasted several hours as they walked, when in reality, it had only been half of one.  
>The three eventually approached a spectacularly sinister looking shelter, one in particular which looked like it hadn't been used in decades. The door was rusted over, and the sign which specifically stated its purpose, had fallen.<br>"I guess... we could camp here for a bit?" wondered Yugi, tugging at the torn collar of his black shirt.  
>"Yes... this looks suitable. And safe." grunted Wayne, rapidly beginning to slice at the rust over the lock with the blades on his forearms. Much to their unified surprise, the door simply slid open.<br>"Intruiging... yet very suspicious. We should remain alert. At all times." observed Edgeworth, glaring at the interior of the shelter. "Yugi. What is the condition of the Pharaoh?"  
>Yugi's expression turned to that of concern almost as soon as Miles had begun that sentence. He looked at his puzzle. It was noticeably battered from their constant battles in the world. Yami himself had been injured, and had sealed himself inside the puzzle to recuperate.<br>"Not good... he's still getting better." he uttered quietly. The two of them had forged a bond during the years they had been together. Yugi felt like he had lost a part of his soul when Yami had to go into lockdown days ago.  
>Edgeworth gave a concerned, although it was more bordering on uncomfortable, look towards the duellist, coming to terms on his own problems. He was by far the least powerful person still standing. He was a prosecutor in his real world. And there was no way he could prosecute anything in this... Place.<p>

They slowly walked into the shelter, paying attention to their surroundings. The lights flickered, sparks emitted from the ceiling. The shelter's interior looked battered and crippled. The walls were dented stained from the burns of a fire, structural binds had fallen, and the metallic floor was grated and dented. The only thing that seemed to be intact was the security monitor.  
>"Welcome to hell." snarked Wayne, as he took a seat on one of the intact chairs. Edgeworth and Yugi did the same. "Gentlemen... let us summarize our time here." began Wayne, his arms folded in a gesture of authority over his other two comrades. We've been here for almost three days in total. That is 63 hours judging by my clock. During that time, we have been subjected to several attacks some without let up. Our experiences with the Undine merely hours ago dictate that. We lost two people in that battle. Two more prior to that. And yet, we still don't know what we're doing here. How we were brought here."<br>"And most importantly, why were brought here." interrupted Edgeworth, his arms also folded in a gesture of authority over his other two comrades.  
>"Precisely." agreed Wayne, nodding his head.<br>"Let's not leave getting out off the priority list either. I mean, we have families, don't we?" interjected Yugi, trying to make his own point come across.  
>He was met with a very awkward silence as the two adults in the room cringed, almost in unison, before slowly looking at the floor.<p>

Yugi grimaced, now regretting his statement. "I... I'm sorry..."  
>"It's fine." they both told him, in unison, with just a hint of emotion in their voices. For the first time since they got there, Yugi actually saw a bit more about the people he was grouped with. Both of them were stoic individuals.<p>

That was why.

Moments passed in the shelter, as Miles found a box of emergency rations. It contained a box of a dozen protein bars, a dozen cans of taurine drinks, and a large sack of ready-prepared rice.  
>"Anyone feeling peckish?" asked Edgeworth, in an attempt to lighten the mood.<br>Moments turned in hours. The slow passing of time took its toll on the three, as they considered their plans of action. It was then, that things began to escalate. Physically. With a gentle knock at the door.

*Tap*

*Tap*

*Tap*

There was a stunned silence across the room. Bruce silently rose from his seat, taking a batarang into his hands, for security purposes. He guided the others to get behind him, as he headed for the security monitor. The ominous quiet tapping continued, slowly becoming louder. Then it stopped.  
>Wayne tapped a few keys at the control panel, and the monitor sparked back into life. The image then switched to something that startled even the Batman - a face, close up to the camera, smiling manically, sharpened teeth bared, crimson eyes glaring. Quickly, said face backed up, and the camera seemed to move forward before the image turned to static.<p>

"Damn..." uttered Batman, cracking his knuckles. He turned to his comrades. "We've got a live one. Get ready."  
>Edgeworth and Yugi both stood up instantly, nodding. Edgeworth pulled out the holstered katana blade into his hands, holding it in preparation pose, while Yugi placed two trap cards face down into his duel disk.<br>There was a shunt from outside. The door was being pulled. The lock was already straining at the intense strength being used to pull it. It was to be used to withstand meteors. And yet it was starting to crack.  
>The three vigilantes readied themselves, beads of sweat rolling down the faces of all three.<p>

Then, at last, without warning, the door... gently slid open. As if no strength at all needed to be used. And a black-haired, tall man in a brown waistcoat, black shirt and trousers, a white tie and a smile on his face slowly strode in.  
>"Don't come any closer. Identify yourself." stated Batman, calmly, yet as sternly as possible.<br>The newcomer's smile faded as he stopped. He noticed the two large holographic brown-backed cards hovering above the ground. Finally he opened his mouth to speak.

"Hmph... is that any way to behave to your... boss? My, my... I was just about to say how impressed I have been with your progress, Caped Crusader- wait, no. That's another you. In another timeline. You're... the Dark Knight. Yes. That's you." he smirked, pointing at Batman. "I must say, as the representative of the Superheroes, you've done extremely well. The Green Lantern went mad after 15 minutes, so kudos to you."  
>Ignoring the obvious confusion, Edgeworth slowly began to approach this extremely suspicious individual. "Tell me who you are, in the name of the law." stated Edgeworth, partly bluffing, and partly irritated.<br>The newcomer took a step back. "Ah, Miles Edgeworth. Representing the normal law-abiding, or shall I say, law-keeping human. You are also exceeding my expectations. I mean, I thought you'd be dead in the first fight with Chaos. And of course!" he turned to Yugi, who had remained behind. "The lost boy, far away from home. His supernatural friend unable to help him. How... deliciously unfortunate. Stuck using a children's card game to get himself through life, rather than tackle things head on. How... disappointing."

"You leave him out of this, and tell me who you are." grunted Batman, walking towards the individual, until they were almost literally face to face. "You have five seconds. Your name. Now."  
>"Intimidation will get you nowhere. You see, I'm like John Lennon. I'm a legend. I can see through all your tricks! I wonder how much Chris Nolan paid you to write his script!" replied the newcomer, almost rhythmically. Then, without warning, in one sudden, rapid movement, he lifted his right arm, knocking Batman into the air, down to the floor, painfully. He then straightened his tie, before noticing Edgeworth rushing at him, blade in hand. "Oh my, really?"<br>He quickly delivered a spinning kick, knocking Edgeworth into a wall, with such force and an impact that part of the wall even fell away with the prosecutor.

The sight of both adults being taken down was a shock to Yugi. Just how strong was this guy...?  
>"Hey! Why don't you pick one someone a lot taller than you, with a staff!" he shouted, placing a familiar card into his duel disk. "Dark Magician! I summon you!"<p>

A holographic card appeared on the ground. It suddenly glowed a bright yellow, emitting to form a shape. The shape of a blue haired individual wearing elaborate purple robes, holding a staff appeared.

"Dark Magic Attack!" shouted Yugi, pointing at the newcomer.  
>The Dark Magician pointed his staff as energy began to rapidly charge into it. The newcomer smirked, as he leapt out of the way as it discharged. He leapt from wall to wall, in a sort of triangle jump, before eventually punching the duel monster, shattering it into smithereens.<br>"Bet your life points didn't like that one!" smiled the newcomer, clasping his hands together, before rushing and grabbing Yugi by his duel disk, snapping it from his arm, while throwing Yugi a considerable distance away. He hit the floor with a crack, panting and grimacing as he landed.  
>"Now, fellows... maybe we can talk now." he stated, gently putting the duel disk down.<p>

"Your name... now!" exclaimed Batman, picking himself up, albeit grimacing from the hit.  
>"Honestly, you have an obsession with people's names..."<br>"Just tell him! No more of your smart alecky remarks!" shouted the injured Edgeworth, wiping the new blood from his forehead.  
>"Really... Fine. If you really must know, my name is... the one. The only. Dubsy." he grinned, walking into the centre of the room. "And I have a proposition for you all."<br>"We'll never accept it... you might as well go now." uttered Batman, standing up into his full height.

Suddenly, Dubsy stopped smiling. His demeanour seemingly changed within a few seconds. His eyes, instead of being filled with jokey anger, became that of unquestionable despair. "No... you don't understand. I... We have to do this." he stated, non-chalantly whipping a syringe out of his pocket, and extending the needle. It contained a jet-black substance.  
>"Don't you even dare..." uttered Bruce, glaring at Dubsy with sheer hate and contempt.<br>"Look... it's all well and good Playing with you. But please hear me out. Don't make me do this, as I honestly don't want to." he sighed, as he aimed the syringe at Batman.  
>"Don't play your 'I'm so innocent' games with me. I know every trick in the book." grunted Batman.<br>Dubsy closed his eyes. He grunted. "Then I'm sorry. But it's for your own good. And the good of this city."

He ejected a third of the substance into the air. It was black and sticky... Yet it was self-sustaining. It kept together. It was it's own entity. It began homing in on Batman. The Dark Knight quickly reacted, He leapt out of the way of the creature, but before he could move any further, the creature had caught him by the leg.  
>"No..." uttered Batman, as it began to spread across his leg, covering the armour, bonding with it.<br>Edgeworth looked up in horror, as his comrade was being seemingly covered in the skin-tight substance. It restricted Bruce's movements as he tried to claw it off, but only spread it further.  
>Dubsy watched on, frowning, before gradually looking away, as Batman, the once great hero, fell prey to his creature.<p>

Dubsy turned around to the other two his slim figure hiding the agonising event that Bruce Wayne was going through. "I certainly hope you two will be more understanding. For your sake... and mine."

To be Continued


	2. Assimilation

_Author's Note: So, so sorry for the massive delay – a lot of things have been happening in RL, and I've recently just managed to continue this. However, I'll now be doing more regular updates. Thanks to everyone who's viewed the prologue so far though! :D_

**Chapter 1 - Assimilation**

It was night time. The bright stars in the blackened sky glittered brilliantly, without a single care. They shone upon the solitary darkened mansion of the land. The Mansion of the land's creator.

It had been one single year since the incident with Batman, Yugi Moto and Miles Edgeworth. Their fates were kept closely guarded by Dubsy. He never said a word about them, not to his staff, not to anyone.

Dubsy sat in his leisure room, silently. His hands clasped together as he sat at his chair, deep in thought. Thoughts that no human could even begin to conceive. His eyes darted around the room, the golden aura from his light spreading throughout.

Then he came to a decision. A decision he had thought long and hard about. But he had decided that it was now time. A slightly twisted frown came over Dubsy's face, as he knew what was going to happen. But he had to keep HIM happy.

He jumped out of his chair, and walked over to his bookshelf. He slowly took out a large, old-ish brown book. It was dusted over, to which Dubsy blew on it. There was a post-it-note stuck on it. It simply stated "Book of Summoning". He opened the book, and grabbed a quill from his desk.

Slowly, he scanned over the page of contacts. Then he quickly flipped over to a new page, having found the person he required.

"Summoning: Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Reason: Assistance."

Once he had finished writing, he closed the book, gently. Suddenly a large ice-blue and red portal opened in mid-air at the centre of his room. Dubsy took a seat at his aforementioned desk, ready to greet his old "friend".

And soon enough, the bulbous figure of Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik tumbled through. The portal closed itself immediately afterwards.

"Thank God..." grunted Robotnik, as he stumbled his way back up, brushing the dust off his modern red jacket. However, he then caught a glimpse at his summoner. "Oh... not again."

"Aha, Dr. Robotnik. Splendiferous to see you again." smiled Dubsy, folding his arms.

"I wish I could say the same. And no one calls me that any more. In fact, they haven't called me that for years. I am, the brilliant, and eggstravagent Dr. E-"

"I don't care what the timeline says, you're still Robotnik to me. And forever shall be. Hell, I don't even know why you went as far as insisting people call you a name that shares its first three letters with an edible item of food. It's like me changing my name to Porkchopsy. But I digress." stated Dubsy, to a very uncomfortable looking Robotnik. "Anyway, I've brought you here because... it's time."

"...Time?"

"Yes, time. Time for our plan to be initiated."

"Ahh, the plan."

"Yes... now I need your assistance on gathering a set of 'heroes' to unknowingly put it into action. Because, you know, my masters will destroy me otherwise."

There was a pause as the doctor considered the situation. A smirk gradually formed from his mouth.

"I've been doing a bit of research into alternate temporal timelines recently... I think I can be of some most helpful advice to you."

Dubsy smirked in turn. Soon, their plan would come to fruition. And the rewards would be beautiful. "...Eggscellent."

**Location: Aperture Science Facilities and Enrichment Centre.**

Silence was never a beneficial thing in the dark. It was the situation nightmares were born from. However, that wasn't, never was, and never will be a concern for the resident homicidal machine.

GLaDOS rotated slowly, letting out a short electronic sigh.

Her chamber was too dark. It did not actually matter for her, with multiple thermal, infra-red, and resonance image scanners, she could paint a picture of the Enrichment Centre more vivid than any human could see.

Multiple images flickered through GLaDOS's artificial brain. One showed a particuarly unfortunate test subject slipping on some Propulsion Gel, and falling into the Acidic Test Subject Repellent.

Her attention did not linger long enough to watch him writh in agony before death, but instead moved along to another, slightly more competant Test Subject, just as she finished chamber eight of course five.

"Very good. The Enrichment Centre would like to take this moment to remind you, that cake and grief counselling will be made available at the conclusion of the tests." she stated, her sing-song voice echoing around the chamber.

The Woman looked up at one of the camera's, but did not stop.

GLaDOS started to do another rotation, rocking back and forth slowly.

The testing still didn't seem right. The subjects were so predictable, each one did the same thing as each other, even when confronted with the new challenge she had created with the Cooperative Testing Initiative.

As much as she hated to admit it, GLaDOS missed Chell. She was interesting, unpredictable, and fun to work with.

But now she was gone. and GLaDOS had next to no chance of finding her again.

GLaDOS jerked back to reality, realizing that there was a test subject tapping on a camera.

"Just how long does this go on for?" He shouted. "You stupid computer!"

She contemplated his statement for about half a second, before promptly flooding the chamber with Neurotoxin.

GLaDOS noted that she had un-intentionality raised the lighting level in her chamber.

Yes. She never thought she would... but she actually missed that mute lunatic.

The days passed, and the feeling of boredom never quite seized. The test subjects seemed to be getting stupider by the minute, one poor bastard even tripping over a mislaid potato, resulting in him beginning a long trip down an elevator shaft.

GLaDOS gave a deep sigh once more. Things at the Enrichment Centre were going down hill, and she could do nothing to prevent such a thing.

She slowly drifted into hibernation. Perhaps the test subjects will have been killed in spectacularly gory ways for her to playback to her hearts content when she had woken up.

However, 8 hours later, GLaDOS came back on-line immediately. All systems functioning at maximum effiency.

One of the exterior camera's had registered movement, and she watched in contemplative silence as a dark shadow moved forwards, placing a briefcase on the ground in front of the sealed entrance to the Enrichment Centre.

She switched to infa-red, and took several snapshots.

It was a masked man in an black suit, black shirt, with a white tie and a top hat, holding a briefcase.

He stepped back, adjusting his tie and turning around, walking away into the night with a second briefcase in hand.

GLaDOS waited patiently for a brief moment, and then sent a drone to retrieve what had been left outside the facility entrance.

Then she attempted to re-enter hibernation once more, untroubled by the event that had just taken place.

However, she was disturbed by the beeping of the drone, as it brought her the, now opened, briefcase.

GLaDOS stared at the contents of the case before her.

It contained $1,000 in human currency. It was immediately rendered completely worthless, due to the very nature of her existence.

What was even stranger, was that there was a deed paper to a house in the 'town of Crossing Central'

GLaDOS ran a check on the internet, and found nothing but a roleplay from a website that had existed over a century ago, during the time Chell had gone through her first... episode.

Finally, GLaDOS' attention turned to the final object in the large, case.

It was a small cube, covered in lines and coloured shapes.

On GLaDOS's will, the robot that had brought the case to her bent down to pick up the large cube.

On touch, the cube suddenly sprang up out of the case.

GLaDOS watched calmly as it unfolded, each line turning out to be a grove as the cube unfolded into a robot.

As if on cue - most likely to some sort of magnetic call, the padded interior of the case sprang open, revealing a hidden compartment filled with curved white metal plates.

They flew out of the case, assembling on the machine, leaving a very feminine robot standing in front of GLaDOS, with a small circular hole where her single eye should be.

The design looked like it could have been created by Aperture, but GLaDOS knew that could not be so.

Suddenly, the new robot leaped forwards, grabbing GLaDOS's head in one hand, and hastily punching into her core with the other. Then there was a vibration. A massive vibration. The robot ripped out GLaDOs' core, as if it was ripping the heart out of a human.

GLaDOS finally reacted as she detected a temporal rift jerking back, and letting out a metallic screech, but it was too late.

Her vision went dead, as she powered down, going offline.

Thirty seconds later, however, her vision had returned, as GLaDOs' system rebooted itself. However, she wasn't entirely pleased with the circumstances upon which she had been revived.

She had realized that she was now inside the robot, and in an instant, she realized what the devil was happening.

"No. NooOOOo! STOO-ARRGGH!"

Her new body, still running on a pre-prepared program of commands, bent down picking up a small cylinder from the case, before closing the case and scooping it up as well.

"Warning. GLaDOS Master Core missing. Retrieving." The Announcer stated.

A mechanical arm swung down, but missed narrowly as the robot stepped back, clicking down on a button on the cylinder.

There was a massive build up of energy, that surpassed even GLaDOs' capacity, before a flash of icy-blue and purple light overloaded her sensors.

Then it happened. The light completely enveloped GLaDOS' new body... before dispersing. Leaving nothing behind.

She was gone.

Gone from the Enrichment Center.

Gone from her own time.

Leaving behind a dead shell of a once powerful robotic being.

Things were only going to get more complicated from there.

_...bzzzt..._

_...BzzzT!..._

GLaDOS' visual receptor cleared, dispelling the burn on the artificial retina that the flash had caused.

The white started to fade, receding back too the edge of GLaDOS' vision.

She found herself sitting on a train, one that was particually clean and fresh, bouncing through the countryside. It seemes to be headed for a small city sitting on the near horizon.

The carriage was empty, well lit, and made entirely of chrome metal, save for the seat covers.

GLaDOS absorbed all this infomation instantaneously, before turning to a more pressing matter.

She had never been in a proper robot. She had been robotic. But never a robot. Technically, she was a computer, with a determined object of interface, namely the large body dangling from the roof in her chamber, back at the Enrichment Centre.

Over the years, she had occasionally used robotic arms, or taken wireless control of robots, so GLaDOS already had basic motor skills of a humanoid styled body.

But she had never been in a body like this. It was so... cybernetic, yet feminine. The plain whiteness of the typical Aperture Science creations had been kept, but her body was far more detailed and humanoid than the average P-Body

After some further pondering, GLaDOS made the decision to stand up, and did so, in a very jerky and uncoordinated fashion.

She took a few steps, getting a feel for this lightweight copy of Aperture technology - most likely something else stolen by Black Mesa.

GLaDOS flexed her exoskeletal fingers twice. She tested out her new eyes, the red emerald gems on a sea of blackness and let out a whimsical hum out of the silver mouthplate which now housed her audio speakers.

"Interesting..."

She sat back down, as the train started to slow, as it seemed to finally reach its inevitable destination...


End file.
